3 Multibooter comparison / review

[PDP-8]

Thought I'd provide observations for those of you who may choose to boot the 64-bit TinyCorePure64 iso on thubmdrives via a "multiboot" utility as a matter of convenience.  It does not signify it as being the best way.

The focus is on the ability to boot, not an in depth discussion of the multiboot feature itself.  The assumption is that you are using the latest version.  And that in some cases, manual preparation of the environment after the fact may be necessary.

These are observations, and not expert advice.

In all three cases below, they have been able to boot on all of my modern uefi / uefi-only machines. 

multibootusb 9.20
Ventoy
Yumi-UEFI

multibootusb 9.2
Needs a manual correction if you desire a gui environment or don't want to build it yourself from the ground up.  The simplest correction is to move and rename the CDE directory to the root directory of a suitable device as TCE.  This is kind of standard procedure, and NOT a bug if you've never worked with TC before.

Advantage: rewrites the iso onto the usb drive with a writable filesystem, so you have access to make permanent changes to the TC grub.cfg file if need be.

Ventoy
As above, it needs a manual correction if you desire a gui environment or don't want to build it yourself from the ground up.  The simplest correction is to move and rename the CDE directory to the root directory of a suitable device as TCE.

Advantage:  Ventoy has the ability to create a secure-boot version, which easily pushes TC past that barrier if you cannot disable it.

Disadvantage:  no convenient way of permanently modifying tc's own grub.cfg

YUMI-UEFI
Use *the latest version*.  Use the "Try Unlisted Iso" option.
Out of the box, if you choose the tc or tcw options when you do finally get to the TC grub menu prompt, you WILL be in the gui environment without having to make manual corrections.

Note that this is very much like the "classic" cd/dvd experience of the past.   Very convenient for TC's "cloud / internet" mode, where a temporary environment can be set up, and a choice selection of apps would be "download and load".

But, as you know, this will all go away after you reboot, unless you take steps to make this more of a permanent thing by establishing a dedicated TCE directory as detailed elswehere in the forum, faqs, wikis, book, etc.

Advantage: handy for slackers like myself, quick demos, or more seriously, when the "cloud / internet" environment of using a small handfull of temporary apps meets the need.

Disadvantage: no way that I can tell of permanently modifying tc's own grub.cfg.

WHAT THEY HAVE IN COMMON
What a multibooter decides to use for the initial screen resolution will simply be passed on to TC and runs that way.

Depending on the hardware, especially modern high-res monitors they *may* show up in native-res where things are a bit teeny.  OR, tc may show up as an in-your-face 640x480 !  (Which I actually use once in awhile).

To control it to your liking:
When at tincyores's grub menu, halt the process by initiating and edit with tab or e.

There is a very handy blank line near the top of the file.

Here's a cure for those of us who like a big environment, like 800x600:

Code: [Select]

set gfxpayload=800x600
Hit F10 to continue the boot.  Enjoy.  Use the fbset command in aterm to check it out if you like.  Note that most of the like-and-subscribe reviewers with a teeny-tiny environment have never come this far, and think that tinycore means tiny icons and fonts.  But not you!